Electrical connectors

ABSTRACT

A HERMAPHRODITE CONNNECTOR BLOCK HAS A PAIR OF LATERAL FLAPS HINGED ON AXES PARALLEL TO THE MATING DIRECTION. EACH FLAP HAS A SHARPENED LEADING EDGE SO THAT ON ENGAGEMENT OF A PAIR OF HOUSING SHARP LEADING EDGES ABUT AND DEFLECT   ARBITARILY INWARDS OR OUTWARDS. BLOCKS CAN BE RELEASED BY MANUAL PRESSURE ON THE FLAPS OF EITHER HOUSING.

W. TEAGNO ELECIRI CAL CONNECTORS Jan. 12, 1971 Filed Sept. 22, 1969 INVENTOR WLADIMIRO T E A G N O 1 WM g \V l M United States Patent US. Cl. 339-47 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A hermaphrodite connector block has a pair of lateral flaps hinged on axes parallel to the mating direction. Each flap has a sharpened leading edge so that on engagement of a pair of housings sharp leading edges abut and deflect arbitrarily inwards or outwards. Blocks can be released by manual pressure on the flaps of either housing.

This invention relates to electrical connector housings for mating with complementary housings and having means for latching the housings together in mating engagement.

It is known to make electrical connector housings having unitary latching means but these generally have different configurations on the mateable housing members and they are difficult to mold.

In an electrical connector housing for mating with a complementary housing and formed of resilient insulating material, the housing being formed with at least one passageway for receiving an electrical connector for mating with a complementary connector in the complementary housing and being integrally formed with a latch device for releasable engagement with a complementary device of the complementary housing to hold the two housings together, according to the present invention, the latch device comprises a flap disposed at a side of the housing and movable about a hinge extending in the mating direction of the housing, the hinge serving to stand the flap away from the side of the housing, the flap on one side of the hinge having a stepped edge extending generally in the mating direction with edge parts extending generally in the mating direction with edge parts extending generally parallel to the hinge, the leading edge part being spaced further from the hinge than the trailing edge part, and the edge parts being separated by a shoulder extending generally perpendicular to the hinge, the flap being movable by resilient deformation at the hinge.

An object of the invention is to provide a housing mateable with a complementary housing with each housing having integral latching means for latching them together, the latching means being easy to mold.

Another object is the provision of means on the housing to accommodate different widths of panels.

A further object is to provide hermaphrodite housings having panel-mounting means thereon to mount one of the housings in an opening of a mounting panel and integral latchig means along opposite sides of the housings to latch the housings together.

Other objects and attainments of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon a reading of the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the drawings in which there are shown and described illustrative embodiments of the invention; it is to be understood, however, that these embodiments are not intended to be exhaustive not limiting of the invention but are given for purposes of illustration in order that others skilled in the art may fully understand the invention and the principles thereof and the manner of applying it in practical use so that they may 3,555,486 Patented Jan. 12, 1971 modify it in various forms, each as may be best suited to the conditions of a particular use.

The invention is particularly useful in connection with a housing mateable with a complementary housing of identical form and will be described by way of example in that connection, with reference to the accompanying partly diagrammatic drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a pair of housings in mating engagement with interengaging parts of the latch devices being shown in broken lines; and

FIG. 2 is a perspective view of one of the housings of the assembly of FIG. 1, mounted in a panel aperture.

The assembly of FIG. 1 comprises a pair of identical hermaphrodite housings 1, 2, each having a pair of latch devices 3, one at each of a pair of opposite sides. Each of the housings 1, 2 comprises a one-piece molding of resilient plastic insulating material and is formed with six parallel electrical connector passageways 4 extending between opposite ends of the housing. The passageways 4 are arranged in two rows of three and, as seen in FIG. 2, each row communicates with an open slot 5 extending across the width of the housing. Each slot 5 has on one side a wall portion 6 of corresponding configuration adapted to engage a slot 5 of the complementary housing. The housings 1 and 2 are relatively inverted so that the housing 1 has a slot 5 uppermost and a wall portion 6 lowermost, while the housing 2, as seen, has a wall portion 6 uppermost and a slot 5 lowermost.

The housings 1 and 2 each have rear sections 7 of substantially plain rectangular cross-section and formed at opposite sides with pairs of lugs 8 presenting rear facing shoulders 9. Each housing has four lugs 8, presenting four shoulders 9 and the shoulders are arranged, as seen in FIG. 2, for registering with the front face of a panel 10 having a rectangular aperture through which the housing section 7 extends. Upper and lower sides of each rear section 7 are formed centrally at the rear of the housings, with projections 11 from each of which a pair of divergent tongues 12 extends forwardly in parallel spaced relationship to the adjacent housing surfaces. Forward outer extremities 13 of the tongues 12 are convexly curved and erve as means for engaging a'rear face of the panel 10, as seen in FIG. 2. To permit assembly of the housing into the panel aperture, the aperture has at upper and lower edges, central recesses 14 for slidably receiving the projections 11 but of less width than the spacing between remote parts of the tongues 12 of a pair.

To assemble the housing in a panel, the housing is inserted rearwardly through the panel aperture and the tongues 12 of each pair are urged together by sides of the associated recess 14 until they emerge from the rear of the panel and spring apart to engage behind the panel 10. The arcuate end portions 13 of the tongues 12 engage opposite sides of the recess 14 to bias the panel 10 against shoulders 9 and also serve to allow use of the housing with panels of different thicknesses.

The forward sections of housings 1, 2 in front of the shoulders 9 are arranged to engage as has been described, and at the interengaging portions each housing is formed at opposite sides with the latch devices 3. Each latch device 3 comprises a flap 15 extending as seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, from an extremity of a housing side through substantially half of the housing height. Each flap 15 is integrally joined to the adjacent housing side by a rib or hinge 16 serving to stand off the flap 15 away from, and in generally parallel spaced relationship with respect to, the adjacent housing side. The flaps 15 on their outer faces on sides of the ribs 16 nearer to extremities of the housing sides, serve as finger grips and are ribbed as at 17. Portions of the flaps on the other sides of the ribs 16 to the ribbed parts 17, are formed with stepped edges 18 extending generally in the mating direction of the housings. Each stepped edge part comprises two parts, a leading part 19 further from the associated rib 16 than the trailing part 20, the leading and trailing parts 19 and 20 extending generally parallel to the associated rib 16 and being separated by a shoulder 21 perpendicular to the rib 16. Leading ends of the flap leading parts 19 are chamfered to present relatively sharp leading edges 22 extending through a height corresponding to that of shoulders 21.

In the assembled condition, as seen in FIG. 1, the leading flap parts 19 abut the trailing flap parts 20 of the complementary housings, and the shoulders 21 of the overlapping flaps abut to resist separation of the housings 1 and 2. To release the housings 1 and 2, one or the other pair of flaps 3 are gripped at the finger grip portions 17 to effect outward movement of the stepped edge portions 18 by flexure at the ribs 16 and hinge movement about the ribs until the shoulders 21 of the gripped flaps 3 disengage the shoulders 21 of the other pair of flaps 3. At this condition the latch devices are released and the housings 1 and 2 may be withdrawn from one another.

To re-engage the housings 1 and 2, the forward housing sections are interengaged by registering the wall parts 6 of one housing with the slots of the other housing, as has been described, and the housings are moved together until the chamfered leading end portions 22 of the fiaps 3 of one housing abut the corresponding leading portions 22 of the complementary housing. Further movement together of the housings eflects an arbitrary camming action between the abutting ends 22 so that the flaps move inwards or outwards by flexure of their respective hinges 16 until the portion 19 of one flap can move past the portion 19 of the adjacent flap. The housing are moved further together until the flap portions 19 register adjacent the portions 20 of the flaps of the complementary housing, in which condition the flaps move hingedly by relaxation of the deformed ribs 16 to register the shoulders 21 of one housing in abutting relationship with the shoulders 21 of the other housing, as shown in FIG. 1.

In view of normal housing manufacturing tolerances and variations, the provision of the chamfered sharp leading ends 22 enables engagement of the complementary latch devices without manual deflection of the flaps. Engagement may equally well be effected by manual deflection of the flaps if that is required.

It will, therefore, be appreciated that the aforementioned and other desirable objects have been achieved; however, it should be emphasized that the particular embodiment of the invention, which is shown and described herein, is intended as merely illustrative and not as restrictive of the invention.

The invention is claimed in accordance with the following:

1. An electrical connector housing for mating with a complementary housing and formed of resilient in sulating material, the housing being formed with at least one passageway for receiving an electrical connector for mating with a complementary connector in the complementary housing, the housing being integrally formed with a latch device for releaseable engagement with a complementary latch device of the complementary housing to hold the two housings together, in which the latch device comprises a flap disposed at a side of the housing and movable about a hinge extending in the mating direction of the housings, the hinge serving to stand the flap away from the side of the housing, the flap on one side of the hinge having a stepped edge extending generally in the mating direction with edge parts extending parallel to the hinge, the leading edge part being spaced further from the hinge than the trailing edge part, and the leading and trailing edge parts being joined by a shoulder extending perpendicular to the hinge, the flap being movable by resilient deformation of the hinge.

2. A housing as claimed in claim 1, in which a leading end of the flap adjacent the leading edge part is chamfered to a sharp edge.

3. A housing as' claimed in claim 1, in which the flap extends on a side of the hinge remote from the stepped edge to present a finger grip for manual pivoting of the flap about the hinge and deflecting the stepped edge away from the side of the housing.

4. A housing as claimed in claim 1 in engagement with an identical housing, parts of the housings interfitting over a length in the mating direction of the housings, and the latch devices of the two housings extending over that length.

5. An electrical connector housing for mounting in an opening of a panel and for mating with a complementary housing and being latchable with latching members on the complementary housing, said connector housing being made of dielectric material and comprising latching means disposed along opposite sides of said housing, each of said latching means being a unitary part of said housing and including a hinge extending in the mating direction of the housings and a flap at an onter end of said hinge, said flap being spaced from the side of the housing and extending therealong, a stepped edge provided by said flap which extends in the same direction as said hinge and defining a leading edge part and a trailing edge part joined by a shoulder extending perpendicular to said hinge, and panel mounting means on said connector housing including lug means for engaging one surface of the panel and projection means for engaging another surface of the panel.

6. An electrical connector housing according to claim 5 wherein said flap extends on a side remote from said stepped edge to present a serrated finger grip for manual pivoting of the flap about the hinge and deflecting the stepped edge away from the side of the housing.

7. An electrical connector housing according to claim 5 wherein said projection means comprise a pair of divergent tongues extending along other opposite sides of said housing in a direction toward the front of the housing and being spaced from these other opposite sides while extending substantially parallel therewith, said tongues having convexly curved free ends.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,891,103 6/1959 Swengel 339-91 3,239,791 3/1966 Fyrk 339-63(M)X 3,289,145 11/1966 Ruehlemann et al. 339-91X 3,398,390 8/1968 Long 339-91 3,417,365 12/1968 Krehbiel 339-91 3,475,718 10/1969 Hartz et al. 339-91 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner T. P. LEWIS, Assistant Examiner U.S. Cl. X.R. 339-59, 91 

